SSE & Quarterly Billing - when is a bill payment considered late?

[MadameGeorge]

Hi there,

 

I'm hoping you can clear this up for me as I can't get clarity anywhere. I'm currently going through my credit files and I'm awaiting my Equifax one to come back. I was considering that SSE may show payments on my file and then I thought a little more about when I pay my bills.

 

I'm billed quarterly, usually around the 30th or 31st of the month. When the estimate is way out and I input my actual it corrects the bill date to the 4th or the 5th. I pay the bill on the 28th or 29th of the following month. My payday. I had it in my mind that within the following month was ok and wouldn't flag as a problem. When I receive the reminder letter it is usually already paid or being paid that day.

 

Can anyone advise if this is outside the payment policy? It's not been my intention. And will this have negatively affected my already poor credit score?

 

Thanks

Katie.

[unclebulgaria67]

I don't think they apply a late payment marker if settled within a couple of months. SSE did offer half year payments and changed this recently to quarterly.

 

If they were going to apply a late payment marker they should tell you. If you are nervously checking credit records because you might apply for credit, then you should ask each company you deal with for a clear explanation of their billing in regard to defaults and late payment markers.

[MadameGeorge]

Thanks so much for getting back.

 

My credit plummeted when I went through my divorce. I've always considered everything I've done since (in the last 7 years) to be as it should be.

 

As far as building my credit history though I've done nothing beyond mobile phone, landline and broadband so I could be doing with working on things. And then I got worried about this. I shall reassess when I pay them. My pay date changed at work and it changed everything.

 

All SSE do is send a reminder which advises me to ignore if paid or pay if not. I always pay on that date - so as you say, hopefully it doesn't create a marker!

[ericsbrother]

AFAIK SSE dont report payments in real time because most energy companies make monthly reports so if you pay quarterly they can never be a true reflection of your account so unless they have handed the matter over to a dca it will always show as up to date cos it cant be anything else.